We enjoyed lively contributions at our international education conference from the audience in Cambridge, through live link from locations around the world and on Twitter, it was a truly stimulating day. If you missed any of the talks, you can now watch them all online.
To get a taster of the day through the eyes of those in attendance in Cambridge, take a look at the blogs below and watch our highlights video, above, to hear briefly from our speakers, delegates and education experts around the world.
Bali Birch-Lee
Student, Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
“'Why are you here?' was without a doubt the most common question asked of me at the Cambridge Assessment conference. A valid question when I, the only school student present, stood in comparison to the rest of the attendees; who outstripped me in age, experience and, through a combination of the first two, knowledge. The primary reason was that difference itself, as the questions I already had about international education were being addressed by people whose careers and lives have revolved around the issues and so could share with me a far deeper insight than I would have had access to otherwise, which then prompted my own thoughts.
As a student, I was able to compare my own school experiences with those discussed by the speakers and so raising questions about the proposal or point of discussion covered: How would the international agenda be incorporated into my subjects? What are the differences between the education systems being described and the one I experience everyday?"
Read Bali's full blog
Simon Lebus
Group Chief Executive, Cambridge Assessment
“A recent piece in The Sunday Times reports on how an increasing number of English schools are looking at international qualifications. It reflects one of the themes at our conference on international education – qualification refugees, who take up international qualifications in order to escape the turmoil of domestic qualification and education reform.
That was the message behind, what I found to be, an inspiring talk by Marc Tucker of the U.S National Center on Education and the Economy, one of the conference’s keynote speakers. It was fascinating to hear Marc’s explanation of how U.S. government policy had failed to prevent a decline in education standards, and fascinating further still when he talked positively about the central role that an international education curriculum - with its emphasis on a rounded educational experience and the development of soft skills alongside deep subject knowledge (and he talked enthusiastically in this context about his experience with Cambridge)- can play in promoting educational excellence."
Read Simon's full blog
Lucy Crehan
Researcher, Education Consultant and Teacher
"I wondered, when invited to the Cambridge Assessment conference, what was meant by International Education. Did it refer to the educating of students in international schools to thrive in an increasingly globalised world? Or to what countries can learn from one another in improving the quality of education for all of their children?
Both were discussed at the conference, and I was particularly interested in the intersection of the two. Many international schools do a fantastic job at teaching their students to be critical thinkers, to understand different world views, and to be effective communicators (commonly referred to as twenty-first century skills, although, as one speaker pointed out, skills that have been taught in private schools for centuries)."
Read Lucy's full blog